Acting Café, Terminal 1, Shanghai/Pudong Airport, China

Ordered at the Acting Cafe in Terminal 1 of Shanghai/Pudong International Airport.

All I wanted was Starbucks. That’s it. I was flying from Beijing to Okinawa, connecting through Shanghai, and with a 4 hour layover all I wanted was to sit at a Starbucks and sip on an iced latte while answering emails. I was in the international terminal of Pudong afterall, this shouldn’t be a big demand.

But alas, after walking around for 20 minutes I came to the realization that I would not be enjoying an espresso creation from one of my favorite international coffee chains. Where to then? How about the Acting Café – it seemed busy and as I looked around and saw patrons ordering club sandwiches, I decided my hunger would take over and I’d dine on one of my favorite meals.

As I sat wondering if there was a Starbucks outside of security, I played Words with Friends and waited for my meal to arrive. Within 10 minutes, I had an “iced latte” (which was really just cold milk with coffee) and club sandwich placed in front of me.

It looked like a sad sandwich. I pitied it. But as I looked around and saw everyone else eating one, I decided it might not be that bad. Of course, I quickly discovered that was a poor assumption… it honestly came down to the extremely questionable florescent red/pink ham, that I decided to just remove from the sandwich. I’d live longer that way.

Minus the glowing ham, the sandwich wasn’t too bad. The chicken was fried, which was unhealthy but added decent flavor, the tomato was super ripe and the lettuce was just average. The white bread was simply white bread, boring and untoasted, and there was a slice of American cheese plopped next to the tasteless fried egg. At least the club had some substance in it, and there wasn’t any mayo; 2 plusses. Of course, the lame side of budget knock-off Pringles didn’t add anything.

I was glad I was on my way to Okinawa, Japan, where I would spend 48 hours devouring the best of Japanese cuisine. This club was lame, but I couldn’t care less – in 3 hours I would be dining on pork and sushi.

Location